On the use of socio-demographic indicators in local health planning: A Canadian non-metropolitan perspective

Alun E. Joseph and R.Grant Hollett

Social Science & Medicine, 1993, vol. 37, issue 6, 813-822

Abstract: This paper argues that the use of socio-demographic indicators to represent actual or potential demand for mental health services needs to be informed by knowledge of local settlement conditions and trends. Following a selective review of the literature on the use of socio-demographic indicators in mental health care planning and on the spatial ecology of mental illness, a case study of a non-metropolitan jurisdiction in southern Ontario, Canada is presented. The results of a regression-based analysis reveal a strong association between the socio-demographic composition of populations and hospitalization rates for mental illness. The pattern of correlates appears to be underlain by residential location processes that 'filter' populations on the basis of age and socio-economic status. It is concluded that, in the absence of this knowledge of local social geography, applications of indicators methodologies run the risk of being 'black boxes'.

Keywords: socio-demographic; indicators; mental; health; health; planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1993
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(93)90375-E
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:37:y:1993:i:6:p:813-822

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().